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Author
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Topic: Occupy Wall Street
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Xanthine
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan!
Member # 736
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posted October 27, 2011 00:51
When you've worked hard, it's easy to forget the luck factor in your success. But it's there. Which isn't to say only luck matters, because some oppurtunities only arise BECAUSE you work hard and also because if you're lazy you won't make anything of your luck. However, to illustrate my point, I have a tale of two labmates, A and B. Both went to small, private universities (as did I...that seems to be a common link among the post-docs who are US citizens in this lab). Both A and B got their degrees at highly prestigious universities. B even worked for a Nobel laureate. Both A and B, on arriving at this lab for their post-docs, won a nice fellowship from the National Research Council. Both bust ass as post-docs and on rolling off their NRCs apply for another presitigious fellowship. A gets it. B doesn't. Why? A applied a couple years ahead of B. The year B applied, the economy crashed and the fellowship was cancelled. Bad luck for B. You could be an ass-munch and claim that B should have finished grad school sooner, though that probably would not have saved him as, to finish sooner, he'd've needed a different advisor and may not have ever ended up in a position where applying for prestigious fellowships was a realistic option. Or you could say B should've been born earlier, but he had no control over that. The fact is, he just got screwed by forces beyond his control - it's hard to win money that no longer exists.
And, as for A, while the market was tanking he was busy looking for a job. He applied to 30 positions and all 30 searches were cancelled before his applications hit the right desks. He had better luck the following year, though.
And me? While the market was tanking I effing won my NRC. ![[crazy]](graemlins/crazy.gif)
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And it's one, two, three / On the wrong side of the lee / What were you meant for? / What were you meant for?
- The Decemberists
Posts: 7665 | From: the lab | Registered: Mar 2001
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GrumpySteen
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan
Member # 170
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posted October 27, 2011 06:12
zesovietrussian wrote:
That's more like it.
The figure is disingenuous. Roughly 43% of households do not pay income tax, but 28.3% of those pay payroll taxes which cover their entire tax bill.
Here's the real picture of who doesn't pay taxes:
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Worst. Celibate. Ever.
Posts: 6291 | From: Tennessee | Registered: Jan 2000
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Sxeptomaniac
Member # 3698
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posted October 27, 2011 16:58
quote:
Originally posted by zesovietrussian:
That's more like it.
Except the poor often pay a larger share of their income to state and local taxes than the rich.
Still, no surprise that those subscribing to GOP economic policy are resorting to misleading statistics. The entire GOP Randian economic policy is based on fantasy.
Oddly enough, the GOP has become increasingly elitist lately. They actually claim that the rich are somehow more important to the economy than everyone else. Problem is, without a healthy middle class, the rich don't have an incentive to be "job creators".
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Let's pray that the human race never escapes from Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere. - C. S. Lewis
Posts: 1590 | From: Fresno, CA | Registered: Mar 2005
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TheMoMan
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
Member # 1659
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posted October 27, 2011 17:18
Remember Scott Olsen.
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If it don't glow it ain't Ham Radio
Posts: 5072 | From: Just South of the Huron National Forest, in the water shed of the Rifle River | Registered: Sep 2002
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TheMoMan
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
Member # 1659
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posted October 29, 2011 08:43
Post at GRZ by W7ASA
Well, I for one am GLAD that the politicians are ordering this. I feel just GREAT knowing that they will defend us with all of the skill and self sacrifice which they have displayed to make the U.S. dollar as good as gold...... okay, so maybe that was a poor example.
Well then, the politicians will make us safe, just like they've made the united States the most loved nation on Earth.... oh wait, that didn't work out too well either.
Oh, they will handle this with the same expert knowledge and fidelity and sense of high moral justice as they defended our borders ... oh wait, the politicians ARMED Mexican drug gangs and blamed it on our Constitution, and didn't serve a single day in jail... but they DID give us government schools and put our educational standards waaaay up to..... or wait it was somewhere behind Zanzibar..
Never mind, I can't find a good example of those politicians handling anything well in the last 200 years or so.
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If it don't glow it ain't Ham Radio
Posts: 5072 | From: Just South of the Huron National Forest, in the water shed of the Rifle River | Registered: Sep 2002
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The Famous Druid
Gold Hearted SuperFan!
Member # 1769
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posted October 29, 2011 14:17
quote:
Originally posted by TheMoMan:
Never mind, I can't find a good example of those politicians handling anything well in the last 200 years or so.
See? That's what you get when you rebel against your Rightful King.
If those colonial troublemakers had all been dealt with severely, today you'd have a proper Health Care System (complete with Royal Hospitals), drive on the Left like nature intended, and eat Cadbury Chocolate, not that vile Hershey muck.
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If you watch 'The History Of NASA' backwards, it's about a space agency that has no manned spaceflight capability, then does low-orbit flights, then lands on the Moon.
Posts: 10313 | From: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: Oct 2002
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Xanthine
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan!
Member # 736
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posted November 08, 2011 13:43
Income inequality in the US in some rather stark terms, courtesy of Yahoo (pay special attention to how much the top 1%'s income has gone up since the 70's vs. everyone else's...we're looking at almost a factor of ten).
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And it's one, two, three / On the wrong side of the lee / What were you meant for? / What were you meant for?
- The Decemberists
Posts: 7665 | From: the lab | Registered: Mar 2001
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Sxeptomaniac
Member # 3698
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posted November 08, 2011 14:08
An Irishman's view of Wall Street (NSFW without headphones due to some rather appropriate, IMO, language).
It's almost certainly staged, as the same man shows up in other videos making very similar rants, but I can't help but enjoy his wording.
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Let's pray that the human race never escapes from Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere. - C. S. Lewis
Posts: 1590 | From: Fresno, CA | Registered: Mar 2005
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drunkennewfiemidget
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
Member # 2814
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posted November 09, 2011 02:44
Regardless of whether or not you agree with OWS (I personally do), I've been complaining for years about complacency in inequalities in our world, so I'm glad as hell to see people taking up the cause. I was in Baltimore over the weekend, and saw the Occupy Baltimore portion. I am heartened to see some people trying and making their voices heard.
Posts: 4892 | From: Kitchener, ON, Canada | Registered: Jun 2004
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